Torah · Halacha YomitAnimals/Pets on ShabbatRabbi Uri Nahum · October 19, 2026 · 39 Melachot-15Play+30Position0:00—Save⌄ShareUsing an animal on ShabbatTranscript0:00Good morning, rabotai. First of all, like we said today, yihishim, we have two events.0:07One is the— we started using a brand new Sefer Torah,0:12and two is we have a siyum. I want to be clear, that's not because of the Sefer Torah;0:16it's because of the siyum. That's why we said0:18yihishim, not because of the person who made the siyum, because it is a siyum.0:23That's why we said yihishim, and we have the0:26seudah. Any sponsor breakfast. But anyway, let's get back to the0:29halachot. We were talking about yesterday the halacha of using an animal on Shabbat.0:33So we spoke about riding an animal. We just mentioned it, we mentioned more background stuff,0:38but it's really, the halacha is using an animal on Shabbat.0:40So much so, the first machloket, that stated machloket in history of Klal Yisrael, was0:46on Yom Tov you're supposed to bring a korban0:50olah, and that korban olah also has with it semicha.0:54What semicha means is, like the way— there's a video here—0:57is that a person puts his full weight on it,1:00v'samach et yado al rosh, whatever it is, in this case of the1:03keves, and he puts his full weight on it.1:05So there's a machloket if you could do that on Yom Tov or not Yom Tov.1:09We hold you could do it, but those who say it's asur,1:11it's because that's called using an animal,1:13and you're not allowed to use an animal on Shabbat, on Yom Tov.1:16So it's not just riding the animal, but even leaning on an animal,1:20using your weight on an animal, it's all part of the1:22gezeirah. Remember, the reason was that people normally, when they ride an animal,1:26they rip off a branch, and it's because of1:29kotzer. But once chachamim made a gezeirah, the gezeirah remains in effect1:33on the boundaries of that gezeirah, which means you're not allowed1:36to use an animal, period, regardless what the reason is,1:39you're not allowed to use the animal.1:41So like we said, riding and also leaning on an animal.1:44Now, being that we're speaking about animals, I don't think anybody has,1:47at least people that are listening to—I don't know,1:49there are videos, I don't know where it1:51goes—but most of us don't have horses and donkeys that are riding on it.1:55And we don't have big animals that we ride on them.1:57And even though you may call your kids hamorim, they're not really hamorim,2:01you know. So we're not dealing with those halachot so much.2:04But there are people that have pets,2:06and we want to discuss, divert a little bit from the halachot of2:10hotza'ah to discuss pets and animals on Shabbat and Yom Tov.2:16Of course, we're dealing with live animals. We're not dealing with dead animals.2:19We're dealing with live animals.2:20Dead animals you eat, that's food.2:22When it comes to live animals, how to deal with pets.2:23There's a halacha that people have to know, and that is2:26you cannot move a living animal on Shabbat, even if it's your pet,2:30even if that's what you do every day.2:31So people have cats, people have dogs,2:34people have birds right in their house, and fish, of course.2:38So all those are muktzeh on Yom Tov and Shabbat, and they may not be moved.2:42So a person has a dog, he jumps on him when he2:45comes, a little puppy, very cute, and he wants to—you may pet a dog.2:50You may tether a cat because you're not actually picking them up,2:53but to pick them up and move them, that would be asur on Shabbat, Yom Tov.2:56It's2:57muktzeh. Same thing if a person has a bird, and it's a3:00bird—there's a bird cage—and he wants the bird cage to move from here to there, that is3:04muktzeh. The bird cage is made for the bird. The bird is inside of it.3:07It would be a problem of muktzeh. You cannot move it on Shabbat and Yom Tov.3:11But like we said, to pet them, to just, you know, or to lead3:17them—let's say the bird came out of its cage, so you want to put it back in.3:21He's not listening.3:22Today he's not understanding English. You try Arabic, it's not working.3:24So you want to just, you know, pat it a little bit like this3:27to get it back into the cage, that would be3:30mutar. But to pick them up is where the issur is.3:33The leashing that we have, for those who have3:36pets—most people have pets that they want to walk, like3:38dogs—there's a leniency. You could walk a dog on Shabbat.3:42You could even use a leash on Shabbat to walk a dog.3:47The reason for that is because a leash, even though3:51you're carrying—you're not allowed to carry on3:52Shabbat—a leash is considered like a person's sweater.3:54Imagine the following:3:55imagine you have a little kid, and he doesn't want to hold your hand.3:59He's wearing a hoodie, and he has, you know, the hood in the back,4:02and you're holding onto the hood.4:03Is that called carrying?4:04He says, No.4:05The hoodie, or the sweater that he's wearing,4:08he's wearing it in order to what?4:10To protect himself.4:11So this is part of his clothing.4:14Anything that a person wears, or an animal in this case4:17wears for its protection, is not called carrying.4:20So therefore, being that the leash is on the animal for4:24protection—the animal that shouldn't go into places it shouldn't4:27go—so holding the leash would be4:30mutar. Now, there's one condition. It may not be so relevant by most leashes.4:34Most leashes today have this, like, handle,4:37and, like, they make it longer and shorter,4:39so it doesn't apply so much.4:40But in case you had just a regular rope,4:44halacha is that the leash should not stick out of your hand4:48eight centimeters, a tefach. But again, it's not so relevant today.4:50Most people have the leashes, like I said, with the handle.4:52So therefore, if you see a person walking his dog or her dog,4:57whatever it may be, on Shabbat, it's not an issur of carrying.5:01Not that because you hold the eruv or not; it's because it's5:04mutar, because like we said, it's considered like it's whatever.